Ford Falcon 2008 News

PETFOOD magnate Tony Quinn scored the biggest success of his motorsport career when he drove to victory in the 2009 Targa Tasmania with his Nissan GT-R. His job was made easier when Jim Richards and Kevin Weeks both crashed out of contention, leaving the VIP Pet Foods boss with an eventual winning margin of six minutes over Jason White in a Lamborghini. Rex Broadbent completed a hat-trick with classic victory in his Porsche 911, while Greg Johnston took the showroom class in a Mitsubishi Evo.FOUR points was the margin between success and failure for Chad Reed in this year's AMA and World Supercross Championship as the superstar Aussie came up just short in the grand final in Las Vegas at the weekend. Reed scored 11 seconds places from 17 starts in the supercross series with his Suzuki, as well as three wins, but it was not enough to stop James Stewart lifting the title with a safe third place in Las Vegas.MARCUS Marshall surprised his V8 Supercar rivals by re-setting the lap record at Winton last weekend in his unsponsored BF Falcon. The speedy young Queenslander did the job in an ex-Triple Eight Ford on the soft Dunlop racing tyres used for the first time at Winton, dropping the benchmark time to 1 minute 22.9813 seconds as he raced to a memorable ninth place on Sunday afternoon.NICK Percat made another clean sweep of the Formula Ford championship races at Winton last weekend, with Chaz Mostert following him home in each of three heats. The weekend result gives Percat a 61-48 break over Mostert, with Mitchell Evans and Scott Pye next in the junior series.MARCOS Ambrose finished just outside of the top 10 in his latest Nascar start at Richmond in Virginia despite contact with the wall early in the event. Finishing 11th, after his benchmark fourth place a week earlier at Talladega, gave him his seventh top-20 result from 10 starts and moved him up to 19th in the Sprint Cup standings with his Toyota Camry.DEAN Canto and Luke Youlden have filled the co-driving seats at Ford Performance Racing for this year's V8 Supercar enduros. It is their second year alongside FPR regulars Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards at Phillip Island and Bathurst, as Nathan Pretty also returns for the long-distance events as a member of Kelly Racing.The pace-setting car in V8 Supercar racing is now driven by a woman. Amber Anderson, a 25-year-old Melbourne lawyer who is trying to build a racing career, has been chosen to drive the Nissan GT-R safety car at several rounds of the series and had her first start at Winton last weekend.SWINE flu meant an early end of the A1GP season which was planned to finish in Mexico City at the end of May. The series ended instead in Britain last weekend, when Team Ireland raced to the championship with Adam Carroll, as Team Australia trailed in eighth after an identical finish in the feature race in the UK by John Martin.THE popular Speed on Tweed historic festival has been revived as part of the program for Repco Rally Australia in September. The course through the streets of Mulwillumbah on the NSW north coast will also be used as a special stage during the running of Australia's event in the World Rally Championship.THE remaining events in the Aussie Racing Cars championship have been re-jigged for the rest of 2009, with a break until the Shannons Nationals meeting at Winton on June 27-28. The baby racers then head to Eastern Creek on August 7-9, Oran Park on August 29-30 and Homebush for the Sydney 500 meeting from December 4-6.The re-scheduled Victorian Open Sprint Kar Championship will be held this weekend at the Hume International Raceway near Seymour. More than 400 of Australia's best racers will compete at an event which was postponed from February 13-15 because of the tragic Victorian bushfires. 

Courtney new hopeJames Courtney will be back in his new FG Falcon when the V8 Supercar championship gets underway again in Hamilton, New Zealand. The crash-prone new star of the Jim Beam team was relegated to an old BF Falcon for the Australian Grand Prix meet while his car was being repaired after slapping the wall during the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide.Reed near world titleChad Reed is on track for the world and AMA supercross titles despite another second place to American James Stewart in Toronto, Canada, last weekend. With four rounds to run the Aussie on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki has an eight-point break from Stewart.Boost for WallDavid Wall leads the Australian GT championship after the support races at the grand prix last weekend in his Porsche Carrera Cup S. He benefited from a disastrous weekend for Craig Baird in a Mosler. Tony Quinn was second in his Aston Martin and Jim Richards was third in another Porsche.Windus switchDarren Windus has switched brands for his home event in the Australian Rally Championship. The former Ford factory driver has hired a Toyota Corolla from Neal Bates in a deal that gives the defending champion the cash he needs to compete in the Forest Rally near Busselton, WA, this weekend.Percat at the doubleNick Percat is heads the Australian Formula Ford championship after winning both races at Albert Park ahead of 14-year-old New Zealander Mitch Evans. Chaz Mostert was third for the round. The Formula Ford title fight resumes at Winton on May 1-3.Stoner toast of JerezCasey Stoner has put another BMW in his garage after winning the qualifying test in the final pre-season MotoGP test at Jerez in Spain. The former world champion rode the latest Ducati to a 0.7 second win from Italian ace Valentino Rossi in a significant hitout before the season opener in Qatar.Mossig aims to motorPearcade rider Kade Mosig deubts for the Motorex KTM team on Sunday in the first round of the national motocross championship at Albury-Wodonga. Mosig will ride a KTM 250SX-F in the Pro Lites class and rates teammate Tye Simmonds, Matt Moss on a Suzuki and Kawasaki's Luke George as the riders to beat. Pro Open champ Jay Marmont will be the man to catch on his Yamaha.Tickets to BroadfordThe Honda Broadford Bike Bonanza is your chance to hit the track during the Easter holidays. Visitors can enjoy any or all of Broadford's circuits in a relaxed, non-competitive outing. The complex includes speedway, dirt track, minibike, observed trials, an enduro and three scrambles/motocross tracks. carsGuide has 10 passes to the event to give away.To enter, SMS the word BIKES and your name and address to 1993 3300 or ph: 1900 999 174. Competition calls cost 55c incl GST. More from mobile or public phones. Competition open to Victorian residents only and closes at midnight on Sunday. Winners will be notified by phone. 

Newspaper reports have this week suggested that Top Gear Australia has racked up a significant figure in car repair bills as a result of "eager driving" and "wild and silly stunts".

After claiming top prize in the Carsguide Car of the Year award for 2008 the blue oval brand's family favourite has also been named as Best Family Car in the Australia's Best Cars awards for 2008.It is the only homegrown champion among the 12 winners in the annual contest judged by Australia's motoring clubs as a consumer guide to new-car showrooms.The winners claimed their crowns after a massive assessment of 280 individual contenders, who are judged against three basic measurements: value for money, design and on-road performance.The field was trimmed to 36 finalists across the 12 categories, and these were then extensively road tested to find the winners in each size and price class.The champion crew for 2008 runs from the Mazda2 Neo at the bottom, through the Falcon and Hyundai iMax people mover to the luxury Lexus GS450h hybrid and the luxury BMW X5 four-wheel drive.But it is the Falcon which has made the biggest impact, according to Best Cars' chief judge Ernest Litera."The winning 2008 Ford Falcon XT represents a concerted effort on product refinement; the model is not an all-new chassis and engine but more a refinement to the engine to produce better performance and fuel economy," says Litera."The ride and handling package has also improved significantly and feels more like the quality cars we would expect to come out of Europe, without compromising on space, touring ability and towing that Australians also often look for."Litera praises the general standard of the vehicles which made the shortlist in 2008."The finalists are a good set of cars - we are very pleased with the sorts of cars that have come on to the Australian market this year."The judges are seeing a steady improvement in the quality of vehicles on the Australian market - particularly in the area of safety equipment and crash test results alongside their on-road performance."They have to perform well in crash tests conducted by Australia's leading crash test and vehicle safety advocate, the Australasian New Car Assessment Program, and the ANCAP results show vehicles are definitely safer today without compromising performance."But he says the choices, even exotics such as the Audi TT-S sports car and the heavyweight Land Rover Discovery four-wheel drive, are always assessed against the needs of potential owners."These are consumer awards where every score on every vehicle is made available to help buyers make informed purchasing decisions," says Litera.Full details of the Best Cars awards can be viewed at australiasbestcars.com.au or in the Australia's Best Cars magazine, available from newsagents. Australia's Best Cars 2008 WinnersBest Small Car: Mazda2 NeoBest Mid-Size Car under $28,000: Hyundai i30 SXBest Mid-Size Car over $28,000: Mazda6 ClassicBest Large Car: Ford FG Falcon XTBest People Mover: Hyundai iMaxBest Sports Car: BMW 135i Coupe SportBest Luxury Sports Car: Audi TT-S TFSI QuattroBest Prestige Car: Audi A4 TDIBest Luxury Car: Lexus GS450hBest Recreational 4WD: Volkswagen Tiguan TDIBest Luxury 4WD: BMW X5 3.0dBest All-Terrain 4WD: Land Rover Discovery 3SE TDV6  

Ford's Falcon G6E Turbo has carried the flag for Australian new car manufacturing, winning the 2008 carsguide car of the year AND the people's choice award.  Widely praised as the best car ever made in Australia - and the first locally-manufactured car to be awarded a maximum five-star safety rating - the spearhead of the FG Falcon family car range swept a field drawn from around the world. More... People's choice But not only was the Blue Oval entrant the judges choice, it was also your favourite, taking out the people's choice award by a large margin. More... Best green car Determined to not let the Falcon snatch all the glory, Audi's A3 1.9 TDi e has been awarded carsguide's best green car, showing that common sense and clever engineering can turn an existing model into a highly efficient eco-friendly package. More... See these stories and more at our car of the year website...  

Large family cars may be falling out of favour in the marketplace, but they still proved to be your favourites in the carsguide people’s choice 2008 award.

It would have been so easy for the Blue Oval team to drop the bundle as they worked towards producing a new car for a segment that was shrinking daily before their eyes.

Falcon beat the field by a country mile. Read all about it!

Whincup, 25, extended his championship lead to a commanding 233 points with the last round of the series to be held at Oran Park in two weeks.His nearest challenger is Mark Winterbottom, who will be snapping at his rear bumper in another Ford. Whincup won both sprint races yesterday after finishing second on Saturday to Todd Kelly, in his Jack Daniel's Racing Holden.“If this championship happens it's going to be a great team effort,” Whincup said.“We're going to Oran Park in a fortnight needing about 70 points from a possible 300 to get the job done.“I can't see why I can't do it. It's a track I really like to race, while I also want to round the year off as well as I can.”Whincup's win in Tasmania yesterday was his fourth straight, a feat achieved by only six other drivers.The finale at Oran Park, the last time cars will race at the track southwest of Sydney, comes down to a two-horse race, with Winterbottom the only driver who can catch Whincup. Defending champion Garth Tander dropped out of the title race after he could only manage eighth overall in another disappointing weeked for the Holden Racing team driver.“We were hanging on by our fingernails coming into the round, but the championship's definitely over now,” Tander said.But it wasn't all doom and gloom for Holden fans, with Kelly winning in the wet on the first day and two third placings, the best this season for the Jack Daniel's team.The Oran Park round will also be Mark Skaife's last appearance in the championship series. ,p>

Let’s see if we’ve got this lined up: Ford Australia is investing $21 million to keep building an engine whose origins lay in the 1960s with the promise of making it meet Euro IV emissions requirement